04.02.08 (4 February 2008 CE):WaxPoetic here! This announcement comes a little late to the front page, but those of you in the forums have already heard the news! But first, a moment of retrospection.

One year ago, our beloved webmaster and the author of N-Fans, The Series, passed away unexpectedly.

As most of you who have stayed by us know, the last year has been a tumultuous one. For many of us, it was a time of grief that was made all the worse by the various daily sadness of our lives. How can you overcome something so terrible as to lose your best friend and beloved ringleader when the rest of your world - the world you looked to for stability - was crashing down around you?

But as bad it has been, we have somehow endured. As we have, so has the site.

And the site and all of its domains have had their ups and downs as well. We've had two separate artists for the comic, and two separate writers as well. In fact, my script for the current arc is completed, but I am without someone who can do the page treatments at the moment - but we'll get to that later. A few months into the year, the host that had been giving us unlimited bandwidth for so many years - since the conception of the site, in fact - suddenly started limiting us. Obviously, TSGK was always the first to go down. Youkaimura was often the second as the TSGK bandwidth drew upon Youkaimura's before finally going down every month. And then of course, the Captain N and TSGK forums themselves...

And then there was a silver lining, or so it seemed. A long time fan of N-Fans, The Series, contacted us offering free unlimited hosting on his server. Not being ones to look a gift horse in the mouth (unless he needed his teeth brushed), we took the chance. Most of you know what proceeded. We fought for three months trying to get everything set up. Very few new comics were made during this period, because the one doing most of the transitional work for the new server - OracleOfWuffing - was also the one doing the artistic treatments for the comic. We kept the forums open for as long as possible, having to do multiple back-ups all the while.

Our benevolent host got busy in his outside life and wasn't often able to answer questions we had about moving things over. Unfortunately, OracleOfWuffing was also approaching finals for his college courses.

Everything was set to switch over. We locked the forums and threw the proverbial switch.

And nothing happened. We still ran out of bandwidth, and apparently were still getting all of our traffic on the original server.

Over a month was spent via proxy, essentially, communicating questions and answers back and forth to people who had very different hours and schedules.
And then it was alright. Everything was where it needed to be. Every switch was in the right position, and everything was REALLY ready to swap over to the new server.

That's when the prospected host told us he was going to shut down his server in March.

So, of course, we ended up right back on the bandwidth limiting server with all of its familiar problems. Even though we attempted to keep everyone in the loop with what was happening, most people didn't find out. As a result, a lot of the forum goers stopped waiting for the forums to come back up - and a lot of you site watchers stopped watching the site. When the forums were finally reopened, a lot of people didn't know. To make matters worse, the primary admin, moderator and watcher of the forums (myself) took a several week vacation and was thus unaware that the forums crashed several times and dissapeared shortly after being reopened.

All of that seems to have settled down, finally. The core userbase of the forums have returned to the forums, and of course, all of you reading this have returned to the site.

On behalf of myself, and for Hushicho and the entirety of the Captain N Network, I apologize for all of the troubles we've had this year.

We appreciate your understanding and your support.

After all, we are a community. A small one, perhaps, but a community nonetheless.

Which brings us back to the exciting news of the day. Over the years, Web and Hushicho and I had discussed many different ideas and paths for N-Fans, The Series. One of Web's favorite ideas that we all collaborated on was concieved during the conclusion of the P-Sama arc. The idea, codenamed "Base II," was - as the name implies, to create a second side of the N-Fans Universe. That is, to expand the N-Fans Universe. Base II was envisioned as this massive space station floating in the "in-between" of the Videoverse. I'm not sure how Web envisioned it, but for some reason I always thought of a softer version of the Death Star! 'That's no moon. That's a space station.'

So the concept was that Base II functioned as a hub for numerous new N-Fans teams and Videoverse characters to co-exist and thrive. Not just a place of political freedom and open communication, but a place of adventure (And even the long-awaited return of an old favorite - a branch of the famous Pika Burger restaurant. [For those of you who knew Web was a vegetarian, he justified the existence of Pika Burger in Base II by saying that, at any rate, they were far too cheap to use real meat]) And, somewhat more importantly, Base II was also the ultimate nexus gateway to all of the Videoverse. Using new technology created by Doc Arcade and Mike with collaboration from the alternate universe P-Sama resided in, one could not only use the gates to travel to all of Videoverse, but also to alternate Videoverses. Perhaps, some might say, even outside of the Nintendo Videoverse.

^_^; If you're still reading along, by now you're wondering why this is exciting, and what it has to do with you. Drum roll please...!

In honor of the fallen Game Master and inspired by his legacy, we are bringing N-Fans back to where it first started.

The Community.

Ladies and Gentlemen, I present to you, N-Fans, The Fan Mission.

You may remember that at many points during the N-Fans the larger group split up into multiple teams. And so they will again.

N-Fans, The Fan Mission is a community based venture to continue the N-Fans story as told by new perspectives and new faces - all within the continuity of the N-Fans setting.

While the standard of quality the comic represents is a must, anyone is welcome to join in and create their own new adventures in the N-Fans setting, or to continue the adventures of the original cast. All of which will be featured prominently on the front page. Whether you're a spriter, a comic maker, or simply a story teller, we welcome you all to become a part of a continuing legacy that has had quite a rocky year.

Millions of Video Worlds. New Faces. Old favorites. Unlimited Adventures.

N-Fans, The Fan Mission. The future is here.

(There's a bit more information, though perhaps redundant, in the forums. In the next week or so, we'll be putting together a "care package" for interested parties. This will be a rather large assortment of all of the core character sprites and backgrounds of all of the prominently visited places in the Videoverse. [There's a LOT of material to sort, so please be patient!])

One final note; I'm looking for a good site coder. This is for a "secret" project of mine pertaining to Captain N. As it stands, I won't be able to offer much reimbursement for your efforts - but I am pretty flexible. If you're interested in what I have in mind, you can contact me through the forums or via my e-mail adress which can be found on TSGK. (But please, don't IM me. I'm grouchy on IM.)

pchan koko I have no words, really. None of my own, anyway, except that I will never forget. But for the moment, someone else's words will have to do.

Long awaited darkness fallsCasting shadows on the wallsIn the twilight hour I am aloneSitting near the fireplace, dying embers warm my faceIn this peaceful solitudeAll the outside world subduedEverything comes back to me againIn the gloomLike an angel passing through my room

Half awake and half in dreamsSeeing long forgotten scenesSo the present runs into the pastNow and then become entwined, playing games within my mindLike the embers as they dieLove was one prolonged good-byeAnd it all comes back to me tonightIn the gloomLike an angel passing through my room